US 11,944,391 B2
Systems and methods for using surgical robots with navigation arrays
Robert Brik, Cambridge, MA (US); William J. Frasier, New Bedford, MA (US); Marc Puls, Thörigen (CH); and Richard Patrick Courtis, Dorchester, MA (US)
Assigned to DePuy Synthes Products, Inc., Raynham, MA (US)
Filed by DePuy Synthes Products, Inc., Raynham, MA (US)
Filed on Mar. 25, 2021, as Appl. No. 17/212,569.
Claims priority of provisional application 62/994,807, filed on Mar. 25, 2020.
Prior Publication US 2022/0008137 A1, Jan. 13, 2022
Int. Cl. A61B 34/20 (2016.01); A61B 34/30 (2016.01)
CPC A61B 34/20 (2016.02) [A61B 34/30 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2048 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2055 (2016.02); A61B 2034/2059 (2016.02)] 21 Claims
OG exemplary drawing
 
1. A surgical system comprising:
a surgical robot arm having a coupling system disposed on a distal end portion of the surgical robot arm and one or more encoders for determining the location of the coupling system, wherein the coupling system is configured to secure a navigation array to the surgical robot arm in a plurality of different orientations;
a navigation array coupled to the surgical robot arm via the coupling system in one of the plurality of different orientations, the navigation array including a plurality of tracking elements arranged in a fixed geometry relative to one another; and
a navigation system configured to determine a precise location of the distal end portion of the surgical robot by:
measuring a precise location of the navigation array by visually observing the navigation array,
receiving a location of the coupling system via the one or more encoders,
determining the orientation of the navigation array relative to the surgical robot arm based on the visual observation of the navigation array and the received location of the coupling system, the orientation of the navigation array defining a precise location of the coupling system based on the determined precise location of the navigation array, and
determining the precise location of the distal end portion of the surgical robot arm based on a known spatial relationship between the distal end portion and the coupling system.